This invention relates to the monitoring of the operation of cigarette manufacturing machines.
A proposal for a method of monitoring the operation of tobacco industry machinery is set forth in United Kingdom Patent Specification No. 1,352,941, the object of the method being to provide management with the extent of machine down-time associated with the or each machine fault responsible for machine stoppage. Sensors are used to detect the occurrence of particular machine operation events and when an event occurs it activates the relevant sensor, which thereby emits a signal which signal in turn causes a cessation of the machine drive and thus a stoppage of the machine. Signals are also sent to a counting device and a time measuring device, there being one of each of these devices associated with each of the sensors. At the commencement of a machine stoppage occasioned by a sensed machine operation event, the count of the counting device associated with the activated sensor is increased by one and the associated time measuring device is activated and remains activated until the machine minder, having remedied the machine fault which has led to the stoppage, has restarted the machine and brought it back up to full production speed. If the same event recurs, the count of the counting device is increased by one and the elapsed time of the stoppage measured by the time measuring device is cummulated with the time value recorded up to the end of the preceding stoppage.